Phone Hygiene Solved by High School Student

Portrait of Benett Cohen 17 years old high school student that created Hygee, a bacterial killing phone case. Malibu, Calif., Oct. 28, 2017. By Diana Parra-Garcia

For most high school seniors, stressing over important life decisions includes what shoes to wear the next day, or what Facebook status they should post that will inspire the world with their wisdom. While much of society characterize high school students as people who don't understand the issues and concerns that await them the “real world,” Malibu High School Senior, Bennett Cohen quickly debunked those assumptions.

As if Cohen’s accomplishments of a perfect 4.0 grade point average, a perfect score on his ACT standardized test, and SAT Math Level 2 Subject test weren’t impressive enough, he has created an invention that could possibly improve what many use every hour of the day. An avid inventor since the age of 14, Bennett, who is an admitted germaphobe, discovered where most germs were floating: our cell phones.

“It totally hit me! We carry them around everywhere, toilets, the gym, and we place them on tables, subway seats, and the ground among other things,” Cohen said. He said that pressing your phone against your face can cause both pink eye and acne according to dermatologists. With all of that in mind, the Malibu High School senior, came up with a solution. He invented a germ-free phone case.

The technology of his phone cases, based on Titanium Dioxide, has been proven to kill germs, according to a plethora of peer reviewed studies that include the following: PubMed, Vivax Medical, and Gens Nano. To further raise the credibility of his creation to skeptics, the formulation that Cohen has used has been proven to work by the University of Florida, University of Leeds, and even NASA.

As for the attention he has been getting to have created such an impact object, The Corsair asked him how it felt. He jokingly said, “Oh I don’t really see it that way. I’m the youngest of three brothers, I’m not used to getting any attention at all.” Cohen is still waiting to hear back from certain universities before he decides where is going to further his education, but he did share with me that he plans on studying either Product Design or Mechanical Engineering and Business.